Fall color change is coming on fast

With a decided chill -- but not frost -- in the air and decreasing daylight, the deciduous trees of Northeast Ohio are starting to wear their coats of many colors.

But predicting just how vibrant those hues will become is no more a lucky guess than it is a scientific forecast.

Regardless, when the trees shut off the spigots to their leaves and the chlorophyll vanishes, then the other color-producing chemicals will burst forth in an explosion of short-lived brilliance.

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"I have noticed that in some urban areas and low-lying areas that the color began early; technically, however, that was not fall color but drought stress as the trees went dormant to protect themselves," said Casey Burdick, a forester with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry.

"Right now the true fall colors are just starting."

Burdick says that in some years the autumn palette of color is better, though this could prove to be "an average year."

"Where you'll likely see the best colors are in forests and reserves where there are more trees that have protected each other from high winds," Burdick said.

In Northeast Ohio, the typical peak period for fall foliage color is the second week in October, says Charles Tubesing, curator of plant collections for the Kirtland-based Holden Arboretum.

An exception are the various oaks, which typically show their russet colors a little bit later, Tubesing said.

"So it can be a nice, prolonged change," he said. "It's when the nights start to get longer that the trees get the message and begin to shut down."

Burdick said as well that peak color for the central part of Ohio usually occurs during the third week in October, and then in southern Ohio around the last week of October or even the first week in November.

By mid-November, however, everything is pretty much wrapped up as the trees enter their winter dormancy period, Tubesing said, adding this barrenness could even come sooner if an early frost arrives and puts a heavy hammer to the chemical change.

"But there is always some color, though when you see the best color is the result of warm, sunny days and cool nights; not cold nights, which shuts everything down," he said.

Fall foliage color watchers should expect that reds and purples will show up in sugar maples, viburnums and white ash.

The yellows, oranges, gold and russets already have begun to show up, too, and come from other tree types, Tubesing said.

"But there is still a lot of green out there," he said.

For an update on the status of fall foliage color, visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' website at ohiodnr.com. and then divert to the site "fall foliage" on the right side of the home page. The report is updated each Wednesday morning.